This “age of inequality” that you talk about that you say has only lasted 30-40 years is woefully inaccurate! Maybe in your small universe on Long Island what you described was true in the 1950’s through the ’70s for people like you. But in the deep south the Jim Crow laws made life miserable for African Americans. And finding work was whatever slop job nobody else wanted. Out west, farm workers had no rights and were worked like animals in the fields and only when Cesar Chavez came in and organized them into a union in the 1970’s did fairness even begin to level the playing field. The same was true for Asian Americans on the west coast as well as blacks in the mid west as they headed in that direction to escape the lack of economic opportunity in the Jim Crow south
So you see, Joyce, along with whatever white poor we had in this country at that time (and there were many), there were also many people of color who were not living that good life you keep talking about. They were struggling, suffering,,,, trying to attain the American dream or some piece of it for their family. But here they are, 68 years into the future, with some improvements but so far to go for so many. It’s been no 30-40 yr wait for these Americans…it’s been nearly twice as long and almost 4 generations waiting for justice and equality.